Closer to 3.5 stars overall. It's amazing to me that I had never tried out Tomatina even though I'm in the area literally once a week if not more often. I finally had a chance to try them out this past weekend. We came on a Saturday evening and it wasn't crowded inside, at least not yet. Probably because it was early in the evening. Parking can be a pain because it's downtown San Mateo but I have my side streets I try first, and that usually does the trick for me. The interior of Tomatina is filled with woods and has a warm feeling to it. Once we were seated, our waiter came over quickly and introduced himself. After browsing the menu for a few minutes, I decided to order their Pasta Pomodoro with Shrimp. Our table shared the Garlic Knots and both dishes did not disappoint. There were plenty of shrimp and the Knots were tasty, maybe a little oily but I would order these two dishes again for a future visit. Our waiter was excellent. This space can accommodate large parties and has a good seating capacity overall. I look froward to coming back soon to taste more of their menu. read more

Went here on a Monday. We were the only few that stopped by. I met my friend here after work, thinking it was going to be good (my last experience in SC was), I was a little excited thinking it would be the same. It was busy at all and it was pretty slow inside. It had a nice ambiance, nothing special just quiet and open. Anyways, so here we are and we ordered our food. The food came pretty quickly, it wasn't hot and felt like it wasn't freshly made. I was disappointed and didn't pack my leftovers bc it was not good. read more

I catered my husband's birthday party for 25 at my home on Sunday. I chose Tomatina. When I went to Tomatina's I met Lily who helped me choose the food. We selected meat lasagna, chicken rigatoni , cesar salad and italian salad along with rolls and marina sauce. My guests raved about the food. It was really good and so easy. It was no work and a huge success. I recommend anyone doing a party to try them out. Kudo's to Lily as she was a great help. read more

Had dinner with a few friends. There is street parking and a garage. The place was not too busy. It was spacious. Our server was professional and attentive. We ordered spaghetti and meatballs, cheese ravioli, shiitake mushroom and sausage pizza, Caesar salad (huge portion), and roasted salmon. All of it was delicious. All great portions. Looking forward to coming back to try the other items on the menu. read more

Tomatina - Italian Near Me - San Mateo, California

Finally stopped by for lunch today. We have seen this place so many times had to do a quick search to find out what it was. It looked like a busy lunch, there wasn't lot of people but like 7 dirty tables which always makes me feel I'm a bit of chaos (me personally) but there was only one server cleaning up the tables and serving everyone so you have to forgive them of that I think, she was definitely trying. We ordered the lunch special, minestrone and personal pizza and a starters of Mamma's meatballs. 1st Mamma knows how to make a meatball! The we're really good! Soup was a tiny salter for my taste but it was cold out and the soup was hot and tasty. The pizza, really good crust and that's important! Fennel sausage and pepperoni. Pretty tasty. Overall a good lunch spot. read more

Happy hour is great lots of drink&food options ! 5-7pm staff was kind and helpful! 6$ glass of wine is a great deal ! read more

We know that Tomatina is a small chain and normally don't go to chain restaurants. However, on a Saturday, without reservations, it's impossible to eat before 8 or 9 pm at any of our 3 favorite Italian restaurants in Burlingame. DH had the chicken piadine and liked it. He said it's like a cold chicken sandwich. I ordered the seasonal special, short ribs. It was served with zucchini and carrot spirals in a lemon butter sauce. The meal was $36, the price I'd expect to pay at a nicer restaurant. It was one of the worst meals I've had recently. The executive chef who created this dish really messed up with this combo. Short ribs need a hearty partner, such as mashed potatoes or polenta. Vegetables in a lemon butter sauce are not the right side dish for a hearty beef dish. Then, the chef who cooked the dish also messed up. It was over salted and had no discernible flavor aside from too much salt. Short ribs are one of my favorite dishes that I enjoy cooking and eating. Tomatina should remove this dish from their menu. The price point is too high and the execution is all wrong. read more

See all

Service was so slow. Chicken wings still cold inside. The place was not busy but he did mot pay any attention to us we had a party of eight. Took over thirty minutes get bill. 30 minutes till we got our dessert will not go back. The food was awful greasy Not going back. read more

Slow service, under cooked pasta, frozen chicken and they don't do anything for birthdays! We took a party of 8 here to celebrate my dad's birthday. When we walked in, the place was surprisingly empty and there was no live music for a Friday night like other reviews, unless they start playing after 830pm. The couple next to us had asked to cancel their order because it was taking too long and all they had ordered was a cheesecake! This should have been my first clue it probably wasn't going to go as smoothly as I expected. We ordered several appetizers, including calamari, bruschetta, meatball sliders and chicken wings. Calamari was ok, more bread than meat, bruschetta was good, meatball sliders were good, but the chicken wings were still frozen! We sent those back. One lady says we will take those off your bill as she takes them back to the kitchen. We get a second order, better, but still not cooked enough! Oh and they were never removed from our bill! For our main course, we ordered several different pasta dishes. Pasta, for the most part, was under cooked, oily and bland. The kids loved their pizza and the crust was actually pretty good! Had to add salt, cheese and garlic to my pasta to give it flavor! Server comes to clear the table and takes half the plates and disappears for 30 minutes while the kids are getting antsy. We had to ask someone else to get our waiter to order dessert. That took another 30+ minutes just to get a scoop of ice cream for the kids. Which by the way, don't expect traditional chocolate, cherry, pistachio ice cream in three colors, it comes out just green but apparently is mixed together. Most disappointing though, was that we came here to celebrate two birthdays. Guess I grew up spoiled because growing up around San Mateo, anywhere we went for our birthday dinners, there would be some kind of special thing they do... sing, dessert, candle, something. Here? NOTHING! Not even an acknowledgement! 2 1/2 hours and $300 later, I wasn't going to wait any longer to ask for the chicken wings to be taken off like stated and we left feeling pretty bummed about the experience! I can see this being a good lunch spot maybe, definitely happy hour place, but definitely not with a big group or to celebrate a birthday! read more

Before seeing a movie at Cinemark, we had a seasonal pizza baked in a wood-fired oven with sweet fig, crispy pancetta, and mozzarella, seasoned with balsamic drizzle and topped with fresh baby arugula. Absolutely amazing. We topped it off with homemade peach cobbler that was surprisingly light and delicious. Our server helped us get everything in plenty of time for the movie. We will definitely be back to sample the pasta we saw on other tables because it looked really good! read more

My boyfriend and I came in last night for happy hour. It's from 4-7pm and we arrived around 6:30pm. There was some sort of school event so there were a few families there. We decided to sit at the bar for a lowkey night. We each ordered a glass of wine along with calamari and meatballs, all from the happy hour menu. The prices are good and well-portioned. Luckily, the servers were attentive since the bar is a bit out of the way from the other customers. I loved both dishes and they threw in complimentary bread too! The Sauvignon Blanc was refreshing, I recommend it! read more

Tomatina - Happy hour Calamari Fritti and Mama's Meatballs (Made Daily) - Italian Near Me - San Mateo, California

The perfect place for pizza and cocktails on a Monday afternoon. Will definitely be back again! read more

Tomatina - Mini Hand-tossed pizza with prosciutto & baby arugula - Italian Near Me - San Mateo, California

See all

Giovani's Service was outstanding. Focaccia & onion appetizer was only so so, Somewhat tasteless. My wife had the shell pasta with shrimp. It was outstanding. I had the chicken & sausage gemelli pasta. It too was a bit tasteless and the chicken was kind of mushy. We come here often and will continue to dine here. Well just order something different. I wish they still made the Gorgonzola chicken & fusilli. That was by far the best dish on the menu. read more

We went out for a team dinner (8) on Thursday 9/24. There are two servers one that seems experience and one that still has a lot to learn. We were seated and no one came to see if we were ready to order. We ordered water for the table and the waters were left on the counter where we could see them but no one ever brought them. We ordered some bread and butter the young lady working there didn't know where to get butter from. Smh. We ordered the meatballs for appetizers those never came. Once our food was ordered they asked us if we still wanted those appetizers because the young lady forgot to put them in. Smh we still proceeded to order food. The food was bland like they forgot to add salt to all the dishes. We asked for salt for the table because everyone at the table said their dinner was missing salt. To get our bill was another mission the ladies must not have know how to process the 15% coupon from online because the kids dinner were charged $1.09 vs being free. I am writhing this review because i hope that the restaurant improves services and gets more help for the servers or someone with more experience vs trying to save money. read more

See all

Did a take out on some pasta but can't remember but the only thing I remember is the garlic bread!!! It was recommended on yelp & hands down to that bread!! Will be back for those!! read more

The service was slow every though there was barely anyone there... The prices are good. The pizza was undercooked, not much flavor. The pasta was flavorless. The meatballs were ok. The salad was great. I'd like to try something else and give it another chance.... but a bit disappointed this time. read more

Tomatina - Italian Near Me - San Mateo, California

See all

Coming home from an appointment, there was an empty parking space right in front of Tomatina that was calling to me, so I pulled in and parked. There was no one in the restaurant when I walked in - not even an employee. The lights were on and fires were going which indicated that it was open. Having every seat to choose from, I settled down with my computer at the bar and it only took a moment for cheery Andrea to greet me as she walked out from the kitchen. It was a pleasant surprise to find out it was Happy Hour. Many places have gotten rid of that treat during COVID and even raised prices dramatically. Not Tomatina. In fact, they have a pretty good selection of drinks and food, each for around $6. I started with the Tuscan Red Blend which was a good value at that price. Andrea said that the Sangiovese was popular with the crowds which made it my second glass. It needed some time to open up and wasn't as tasty as the Tuscan (IMO), but for $6 who can complain? It was a toss up between the meatballs and the pizza for my snack, and I went with the meatballs. The plate came hot with four decent-sized meatballs and a side roll that was really tasty. Make sure to ask for butter so it can melt all over the warm bread. Yummmmmm! The meatballs were good and that roll was the perfect thing to sop up all that extra sauce. Andrea was very attentive and we had fun chatting about Christmas gifts for the family. She was even super cool when a man came in, drank a beer and left without paying for it. Tomatina isn't a Michelin restaurant, but the food and drink are a good Happy Hour value. Topped off with great service, what's not to like? read more

Tomatina - Happy Hour Meatballs - Italian Near Me - San Mateo, California

Made reservations on Yelp, Strange Friday night wasn't as busy as I thought it would be, probably all the hype from Covid. There was live music playing that night which was a pleasant surprise. Thought the music could have been a little quieter, The service was fantastic, but mind you that the restaurant was fairly quiet, they would have to have more staff. I started with the house red. Delicious, with nice legs. The spaghetti and meatballs. Are a must have. Or even just the meatball appetizer. The chicken was a tad dry. Would pass on that . I would definitely come back . read more

Tomatina - House red very tasty - Italian Near Me - San Mateo, California

See all

Overall, it was ok, but we prefer Blue Line's happy hour. Meatballs and pizza were both fairly bland and uninteresting. I did like the pizza crust texture tho. Calamari could've used a little better oil drainage (or more paper lining the basket bottom). Really really oily. We got a bellini, blood orange manhattan, and a beer. Drinks were good. Live music started shortly before 6. Bartender and wait staff checked up on us several times, no complaints there. read more

See all

We come here regularly and again this past Wednesday for half price bottle of wine night! Keely has helped us on several occasions so I am overdue on complimenting her service. (I hope that's her name as we failed to ask, but looked at the receipt.) She is always warm and friendly and also very efficient. We usually order salads first, then the entree later, but she assured us she could manage that not everything came out at once and she succeeded. My husband and I ordered the same thing this time (the chicken parmesan - yum!) and I was all set to switch plates with him if mine was bigger, but she noticed it first and switched them herself, which we loved. Still even with that, that portions are large and I still took half home which was enjoyed for lunch the next day. read more

I have been there so many times, garlic bread is phenomenal. Ceaser salad 4 stars out of 5. Pasta's are ok. Service can be proven but i understand business management points labor cost insane plus the rent! Im going back to eat! read more

Wonderful service and great food if you are willing to wait to be seated at the door for nearly 1/2 hour and then again for the food (pasta at an Italian restaurant on a Friday night) for another 25 minutes. One of it was stone cold the other well... read more

Let me preface by saying: I hate Italian food. I dont like pasta or risotto I'm allergic to shellfish I'm a broken Italian for sure. That being said, lemme leave the hate at the house bc this place is GREAT. Are you a mom? Then tomatina is your spot babe - pull up a chair with me and let's get our covid outdoor dining on! I had always turned my nose up at this place pre-covid. I go to pokeatery often and drove past and thought: dont they know olive garden exists? Nobody needs another crappy spaghetti factory. Well hot damn was I eating cud! My kids begged so I broke and we went. You order and pay at the bar then seat yourself on the street (seems weird but its totally fine and not too slanted). Waitress/bar tender immediately greets my kids and gets their orders (way to a moms heart). Takes my order, makes sure we get a coupon and sign up for the Thanx app (hey, I always want a deal, sign me up!) We go outside and she hooks my kids up with dough to play with. I had a glass of wine, hubs had beer. Kids got a pizza (look at the size of this!!) And spaghetti n meatballs. I got minestrone and meatballs. Hubs got the piadini on the advice of the lady at the bar. Guess the French toast what -- $40 for all that. Thats what! Shut the front door! Yep. Coupons like whoa and kids eat free night Hot damn. So now we go back every Thursday. I do not care how tight my pants fit, I'm italian now and never turning back. Those meatballs and that roll?! Sign. Me. Up. Service is legit. Never a sour face in the house. See you Thursday!! read more

See all

Oh My Gawd! We walked an sat down at 12:02 for lunch, it was empty... first clue! The seat was filthy, the table was filthy, even the menus were dirty and covered in I think parmasean cheese. Walked out at 12:06 read more

Came here for happy hour. Easy to get seated, hardly anyone in the place. Happy hour menu has some drinks and snacks at reasonable prices. Food and ambiance are just okay. Best app is the meatballs. read more

Went to Tomatina for happy hour and it was pretty good. We had the meatballs, the bruschetta and the calzone. All were pretty tasty it had a nice authentic Italian taste to it. The calzone is not on the happy hour menu and I didn't think for $17 it was worth the price but it was a solid calzone. The beers are $5 during happy hour which is not bad. What I really liked about tomatina was the service! Our waiter Giovani good guy very cordial and recommended some popular items and he was very attentive to our needs. The ambiance is cool as well, I like the brick oven that just gives that great pizza smell when u come in and i i liked the big windows perfect for people watching. All in all I would go back to tomatina for happy hour but I would stick to that happy hour menu as it can get pricey. read more

See all

they were so good! friendly waitress, food is always great. nice quiet vibe, love the mints at the door. come here like every week

Quick and easy pick up during SIP. They had my order ready for pick up when I arrived. I called in prior to coming in for pick up. I ordered the regular spaghetti with meatballs since I was craving some pasta which is very unusual. The sauce was alright but them meatballs are DELISH!!! WOW, I think I may just order a side of the meatballs next time! I would have also ordered the side of garlic twist but I knew I would not be able to finish the meal if I did. Perfect portion for one too! They also do have outdoor seating available for their guest now.Just FYI for those looking for a spot to eat in SMM. The server was nice to grab my order and I was able to pay immediately and be on my way out. Ambiance looks nice that I'll have to come back and dine in next time! read more

Tomatina - Spaghetti with meatballs - Italian Near Me - San Mateo, California

They manage to make pasta taste bad. Despite the restaurant being pretty much empty, the service was very slow and sub par.

Please Tomatina get your act together or I suspect we'll see a going out of business sign up soon. We have enjoyed several meals here in the past, but last night was terrible. I ordered a bowl of minestrone soup, but what I got looked and tasted like a bowl of canned tomatoes, with some pasta, cannoli beans, and zucchini thrown in. When the waiter came by to pick up the only partially eaten bowl, I mentioned that it was pretty terrible. He just smiled and took it away. I suspect he's been hearing too many complaints about the food lately and just had no response at that point. My husband ordered a pizza which was OK, thankfully, so I got to share that with him so didn't go away hungry! read more

I ordered baked penne and it was done poorly. It did not look anything like the pictures advertises. There was barely any tomato sauce so the penne was very dry. And barely any cheese... read more

Excellent Italian food here. They serve everything from pizza to a great variety if Italian dishes. I would recommend everything from the pizza to the pasta dishes here at Tomatina. They also serve a nice variety of fresh salads that are excellent. Really nice to have a local spot that fresh food. The staff by the way is always welcoming and very friendly. read more

My favorite dish there is there spaghetti and meatballs, absolutely scrumptious! I'm a meatball connoisseur too! I asked for extra wet on their delicious sauce and it came back perfectly! Their service is excellent as well. I highly recommend it, I cannot wait to return! read more

Tomatina - Mama's Spaghetti and Meatballs - Italian Near Me - San Mateo, California

It's a beautiful place to sit and eat alone, or with a party of 20. I loved the atmosphere, the corner of 4th Avenue downtown. Easy to get to without the crazy downtown traffic. Food is delicious, the mixta salad was outstanding! I'd eat it everyday it was so delicious!! Garlic rolls were terrific mouth watering! read more

Good happy hour deals and amazing service (5 stars!) but that's not enough to make up for the meh food. The atmosphere is also very good. It's large and open and family-friendly. I loved the bruschetta appetizer but it was pretty small. The most dismal of my group's dishes was my Mediterranean salad. It was basically lettuce with a few olives and a few pepperoncini. It was so disappointing, I thought i was going to cry. The polenta appetizer and arugula and sun dried tomato appetizer pizza and chicken rigatoni were much better. I may be back if I need a quick Italian bite (they also deliver) but most likely not. Whomp. read more

See all

Terrible. Waited an hour and a half to get calamari appetizer. And then an additional forty five minutes for the main entrée. The food was terrible. Everything tasted like it was frozen and microwaved, burned and over salted. Had better frozen dinners from a grocery store. I paid and left to a different restaurant. Never coming here again. Huge disappointment, waste of time and money read more

Food: good. Not amazing, but it's pretty to look. Service: it's nice that you can order with device. The food is extremely slow when coming out. It takes forever, and the place is almost completely empty when we are there. The waitress forgot about our dessert since she was distracted by her friends. Ambiance: fancy-ish. It's a chain, and there is plenty of room to stretch out. Looks nice, pretty clean. read more

See all

Came for dinner on a Saturday night for a party of 7. Lots of parking around so it was a breeze. I thought it would be super busy but they weren't, so it was great. We sat down and they took our order really quick. We had ordered the calamari, a steak piadine, spaghetti and meatballs, mac n cheese and a pepperoni pizza. Everything was delicious! We also ordered the trio dessert and that was perfect as well. read more

We had a birthday celebration for six there on a Monday night recently. The service left much to be desired, but the food was OK to good. There were only two floor staff working - the Hostess/Bartender/Cashier and a Server. The six of us sat for 15 minutes and I had to get up and go find the Hostess to have her come and take our drink orders. The Server then showed up and introduced herself. That was the last we saw of her all evening. The Hostess finally took our drink order, but forgot a couple of drinks. Then the Hostess took our starters order. The starters were OK - tasty even. Eventually we got our mains ordered, and they arrived after a while. They were OK, but I would not order the Baked Penne again. The sauce was very watery and they skimped on the cheese. I suspect that the lack of available workers is having an adverse on service here. The Hostess was overloaded, and the Server spent a lot of time with her back to the dinning room. The restaurant had filled up quite a bit, and there were folks she needed to pay attention to, but she thought standing at the back of the restaurant staring into the pizza oven was a good thing to do. The Server was not very experienced in the restaurant business or she would have known to pay better attention to the customers in the dinning room. We had a good time despite the lackluster service because we are all good friends. This dinner was my treat, and I spent a lot of money here. You can be sure we will not be coming back. For that kind of money we can go to a restaurant where I know they will give a party of six good and attentive service. My recommendation is to skip Tomatina. I'm going to skip it in the future. read more

My first time here.I like this place.Good food.I ordered from their lunch menu.I got the two items for 12.95 and my choice was spaghetti with meatballs and the mixta salad which came with mixed greens, gorgonzola cheese , pickled red onions,dried cranberries, candied walnuts and covered in a honey mustard vinaigrette.Yummy very tasty and the spaghetti was also yummy i plus they gave me bread as well which nice and fresh.I also ordered a diet Pepsi ..My is very good at her job.I recommend this place read more

See all